Coaching Best Practices

Adapted from “Coaching Thoughts, Coaching Questions,” by Michael Soules

Effective teaching boils down to:

• Making observations
• Interpreting those observations (making sound decisions based on motor development, motor learning information, and child feedback)
• Making decisions based upon one’s interpretations

Best practices and things to consider:

• Know the children’s names. No excuses!
• Children can only take in so much information; young children take in even less.
• General feedback is good, but specific feedback is better. (“Good job” is nice, but “much better weight shift” is better.)
• Be prepared to give feedback right after giving feedback.
• Monitor the number of “tries” a child makes.
• Do you teach the way YOU learn? If so, what about children who learn differently from you?
• Where does the critical thinking on the children’s part come into play? Are there things we know that we want them to discover?
• Are all the kids using the same kind of equipment? How do you know?
• Ask the children how a practice/lesson went: Well? Not so well? Why?
• Ask yourself if the lessons flow from one to another. Why or why not?
• Have an Emergency Medical Plan; bring other people in on it.
• There are times when, unfortunately, kids must be removed from class. Follow-up is important.
• End the day on a good note. Bring up behavior concerns at the beginning of practice.